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Reviews
Chiedimi se sono felice (2000)
a city seen through different eyes
I was first hesitant whether to go or not to see this new movie by Aldo Giovanni & Giacomo. Their first one was a funny patchwork of their cabaret bits, but most lines weren't brand new for those who already knew their theatre shows. The second one was a strangely surreal story which clearly revealed the intention to do something different and unattended, but, after the end, it didn't quite convince me. But this time, Aldo Giovanni & Giacomo do all their best to speak a new language: the language of cinema, not tv's. And they do a good job: this story, about the power and the value of friendship, is funny and poetic too. Aldo's voice-over is a good idea, and the sound-track is well harmonized with the sweet-sour atmosphere. The final is surprising scenery-machine which, with a coup de theatre, brings the three friends back to where they separated, like a time machine that finally unites past and present. But, most of all, I've been struck by the way they see Milan. They materialize a place that doesn't really exist, except in the hearts and the eyes of those who really love this city. They create a place where, in a warm summer night, you go back home by bicycle, and the street is like a stage, with skyscrapers as backdrop and old buildings as wings. No cars, no hurry at all. Reality is different but, sometimes, when I'm in very good mood, I deceive myself that the city I love is actually such a quiet place. You will surely love this movie, as I did.
Small Time Crooks (2000)
can't buy me love
Woody Allen gets back to his beloved n.y. to tell how destiny can play jokes with almost ordinary people's life: when it's raining money on you, who knows if you are lucky or not? So a manicure and a dishwasher, become rich after singular adventures, leave home, move to a baroque place, wear fashionable clothes, and try to conquest n.y. high society. But while Ray (Allen) is soon bored by all the show, his wife Francis decides to immerse herself in this new exciting life. And now, alone in a world that she once only knew through the tv screen, it's easy for Francis to make the fatal move. She falls in love with the wrong one: some kind of guy who's supposed to teach her good manners and take her around museums. He's so young and handsome and wears some elegant pink shirts and ties instead of Ray's shocking blue dress... Why shouldn't she think he loves her too, but he's too shy to say it? Of course, at the end, she will get the lessons she was looking for (or she deserved): when the money's gone, everything changes. That's the rise and the fall of a woman who was only good at cooking biscuits, but, finally finds the one who really cares for her, getting back to where she was started from. This time Woody Allen looks at his own Park Avenue neighbours with new critical eyes, a bitter humor, and, finally, one (not too) rhetorical question: can money bring you happiness?
Tandem (2000)
funny movie
"Tandem" and the former "E allora mambo" are very similar: good rhythm and many funny situations. Maybe the plot is not as brilliant as in "E allora mambo", and, at the and, you may think that the final could have been some way different, but the actors are good, and the presence of some very popular tv comic entertainers is not too obtrusive. The choice of Turin as location is also unusual: it's not a fashionable city like Rome or Milan, that are full of up-to-date spots. Unfortunately it has been damaged by a bad distribution, maybe also because Christmas time is not the best moment of the year for this kind of movie (you'd better be a dinosaur or a grinch...).